Stuck indoors, two 10-year-old S'porean girls produce their own books, with some help from family

SINGAPORE — Having stayed indoors for months amid the Covid-19 outbreak, two 10-year-old Singaporean girls did not just get bored, they also got busy — producing their first books, with a little help from their parents.

The first is Nuha Zahra Mohamad Adil, whose family is based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, who wrote and published a story about the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the environment.

The second, RaeAnne Tse, illustrated a children’s book written by her mother on the joys of being home during the circuit breaker.

For Nuha, who has been home-schooled since last November, the book was borne out of boredom after her extra-curricular classes such as swimming were cancelled when the city went into lockdown in March.

Her mother, Ms Nur Dianah Suhaimi, a housewife and former journalist, suggested that Nuha use the time to see through her dream of writing a book.

To help her daughter along, Ms Nur Dianah, 38, offered to write the story while Nuha dictated it.

And thus, the first draft of “The Cure” was completed in less than a day in March.

The story is about how humanity’s greed has led to the destruction of the environment, and how as people are staying home amid the pandemic, nature is starting to flourish again.

Feeling like there was potential to turn the story into a book, Ms Dianah showed it to Ms Hidayah Amin, a distant relative and owner of Helang Books, an independent book publisher in Singapore.

To her surprise, Ms Hidayah agreed to publish it, and brought on board Mr Jafri Janif, a mixed media artist, who agreed to illustrate the book for free.

Ms Hidayah also suggested donating proceeds of the book, which costs S$12, towards migrant worker charities in Singapore. Ms Nur Dianah and Nuha readily agreed.

After all, Ms Nur Dianah has herself seen firsthand how appalling the conditions in foreign worker dormitories can be, as she reported on such issues for The Straits Times several years ago.

“Imagine them having to go through that and at the same time, fall sick with Covid-19. It’s not easy. So we thought that would be the best place to channel funds,” she said.

For Nuha, the biggest joy comes from simply knowing that people will be reading a physical copy of her book.

“I felt excited and a bit surprised because my stories usually aren’t published. Mostly I just write them in my notebook and read them again when I don’t feel like reading other books.”

The book will go to print on June 8, and two book stores here, Wardah Books and Ungu Pen, will stock it.

Meanwhile, RaeAnne, a Primary 4 student at Methodist Girls’ School, illustrated a children’s book that her mother, Ms Lynn Wong, wrote.

The idea for the book, titled “I Wonder”, was inspired by RaeAnne’s positive reaction to the extension of the circuit breaker, said her father, Mr Eugene Tse, who is the director of corporate finance at accounting firm Ernst & Young.

While he and his wife, both 44, were disappointed to hear on April 22 that the circuit breaker would be extended until June 2, RaeAnne was less so, he said.

“RaeAnne said she quite liked the circuit breaker as we got to do a lot of fun stuff as a family, like cook or play together. So we thought about it and realised this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How often do you get trapped in the same house for two months?” said Mr Tse.

Inspired by her daughter’s outlook, Ms Wong sought RaeAnne’s views on what made the circuit breaker enjoyable for children, and put these together into a story. She then asked RaeAnne, who enjoys sketching and doodling, to come up with illustrations.

Over several weekends in May, RaeAnne sketched out the illustrations with a little help from her father. These include scenes such as a spread of homecooked food and supermarket trolleys piled with food and other essentials. 

The final version was eventually published on Tuesday via ebook publishing website Smashwords.  The book, which is free to download, is dedicated to healthcare professionals. It has been downloaded 1,131 times since.

When asked how she felt about having her name to a book, RaeAnne said: “I wasn’t expecting this at all. My parents just wanted to do something as a family so that we could spend more time. I wasn’t even sure if we would actually do a book.”